4/7/19

Today was our second full day in Martha’s Vineyard Island. It was beautiful weather today! We actually did a lot around Chilmark. The day started out with 50s degrees at around 8 am this morning. I got up earlier than yesterday and I saw my skin with red marks knowing that I had a good sleep last night. Anne Nutt was cooking a delicious breakfast that woke me up.

I finished my breakfast and I went up and brushed my teeth. I went down to prepare my lunch as Nutt was still getting ready and then we were all ready to go. The students were in the van first. The teachers finally piled in the van and were all ready to go. We left the house, we finally arrived at our first destination. We met with Lynn and Heidi at the old Chilmark General Store. The reason is that the history is our language was used mostly there as deaf people normally went there to hang out because they did not have the technology as we do nowadays.  

We were introduced to Lynn and Heidi and then we looked at some pictures and they explained the reason why we stopped at the store and ideas to talk about getting the island back with the sign language. Lynn became so excited because we would love to get involved and help and bring it back. We talked about the project of the sign language. She also talked about Katie West and her past. She was the very last deaf person standing at Martha’s Vineyard Island and she passed away in 1952. After that, the language faded away. Lynn also mentioned a young woman named Jill who was born and raised on this island until she became a senior in high school. She shifted her dream into our beautiful language feature. She is currently teaching ASL in New Jersey by MVTV.org.

We finally talked about going to a Library in Chilmark, it was Katie’s old home taken from the other side and moved it over to the new library set to honor her since she was the last Martha’s Vineyard deaf resident. After a while of talking about the library and the history of Katie’s life background, we went to Chilmark Cemetery. We searched for a good hour looking for who went to ASD and passed away later on in life. We were looking for the list of who went to ASD in the 1800s and we found a lot of people on the list that went to ASD. Also, I found students with common last names such as Mayhew, Smith, and Tilton and more. I felt abnormal because it was weird to stand above dead people who went to my school back then. After that, we went to Menemsha Public Beach.

We went and started eating our lunches. The beach view was beautiful and sweet. Nancy was the first one out of the van and then after that, we all came out of the van except Nutt was the last one out.  I went over to the water and saw some cool shells that no one was living there at the moment. The shells were so cute and small that I wanted to take some home but at the same time I wanted to leave it alone with nature.


I saw Frederick at the end of the breakwater. He loved walking over the big rocks. Jarmal and I joined along. The view of the beach was as beautiful as a pearl from my perspective. I saw Jarmal skipping rocks. I saw 2 seagulls fighting over food. It was beautiful and cool weather to walk on the beach.

We decided to go back home, but we saw Chilmark Pottery Sign and we thought why not stop by and see what they have. We pulled in the Pottery and we went in and met with Geoffery Borr, the potter. He was a good potter, I was so fascinated with his art. I knew my mom’s birthday is coming up next month and I saw a perfect gift for my mom was a GREEN elephant and it was $25. I decided to buy it for my mom as a gift. So, I got it and went around looking a little bit more and I went to the van. I loved the store itself with all these cute made potteries.

We all piled up in the van ready to go home, we arrived and went through a bumpy ride again, this time my whole body went off the seat even with my belt tight on. I was almost hitting my head on the ceiling. I got scared and started laughing. We got home and we came in and decided to write the journals.

Overall, this day was very ecstatic because the students and I are helping Lynn and her sister with the project on bringing the ASL back on the island. I am very excited about the collaboration with Martha’s Vineyard and ASD. I cannot wait to see what will happen on Tuesday.